3rd March - Hanoi

We arrive back in Hanoi at like 5am and decide to go for a walk around the lake to see the local people doing Tai Chi, it's pitch black and cold and nowhere is open, yet there are loads of people, young and old out doing exercise around the lake, it's mad! Some of them are taking part in exercise classes, some are just running or power walking, no wonder there are hardly any fat people here.

We wait for a while at the hotel then head out for some breakfast before we go to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, this is where his preserved body lies except for three months of the year where he is taken underground for maintenance. I think it's all a bit strange as he's been dead since 1969 but our guide tells us that visiting him is really important to people and that for children it's a real treat. It's super strict here, walking two by two, no cameras, loads of soldiers, no hands in pockets. We wonder around the grounds and see where he used to live and work, the one pillar pagoda and eventually go to the museum, it's good but not very much is in English so not very informative. By this time we are all knackered but don't want to eat lunch too early so to prolong things we go to the Art museum, there are some really beautiful Buddha statues but the rest of it is no as interesting. Matt thinks he makes a Buddha move, but I think tired delirium is just setting in.

For lunch we go to KOTO, it's a famous restaurant in Vietnam which works along the same principle as Fifteen in the UK. The food is really good but expensive. We then walk back to the hotel and do some window shopping before resting for a while before we go out for dinner, the we go back to the Bia Hoi and have 12p glasses of fresh beer before going to bed.

4th March - Hanoi

In the morning we all have breakfast together, I have muesli which has popcorn in it, strange but good. We then take the local bus to the museum of Ethnology, the local bus is an experience, it costs 12p but gets so full along the way that we all end up giving up our seats to older people. Mattie gives his up to an old man, who then gives it up to a young man with a bad leg, who then gives it up to another man with no leg. That's the order apparently. Along the way we come across an accident and while we're waiting for it to clear the bus gets hit from behind by a car, the driver gets out to check, gets back on and drives off within 1 minute. Even thought Hanoi is so busy there are very few serious accidents we're told, because the traffic is so bad, it's always pretty slow moving so the accidents that do happen are not too serious.

The museum is good and there are reconstructions of minority peoples houses through the ages, but by this time we are all a bit museumed out. We have lunch at the restaurant there which is another Fifteen style restaurant and I have my first proper cup of tea since leaving home, absolute heaven!

We take a taxi to the "Hanoi Hilton" which is the old prison built by the French when they were here and used by the Vietnamese for American G.I's. It's really interesting, probably one of the best places we've seen.

We walk back to the hotel via coffee shop street and find a local one to have some drinks at, the weather rubbish so Mattie and I have hot chocolate it's so good. We have a group dinner before heading to the station for the overnight train to Hue. This train is not as luxurious as the last one and sometimes has rats on it our guide tells us, luckily there are none on our train!